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Andrew Cohen is a senior editor. He oversees the site’s analysis and helps provide daily coverage of legal events and issues. A recovering attorney, he is the legal analyst for 60 Minutes and CBS Radio News, a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, and a contributing editor at The Atlantic.
Phone 212-803-5265
Email acohen@themarshallproject.org
Twitter @JustADCohen
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News June 7
He Pocketed His Victims' Organs. Was His Death Penalty Trial Fair?
As Andre Thomas faces execution for three gory murders, a court questions jury bias and his competency.
By Andrew Cohen
News May 21
Corey Williams About to Walk Free in Louisiana
A sudden plea deal ends a decades-long fight in a capital murder case.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point May 6
A Murder Case Unravels
Prosecutors stacked the deck. Forty-one years later, that may be enough to free Johnny Gates.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point April 16
Is There Such a Thing as a Slam Dunk?
The Corey Williams case comes close.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point February 26
For Want of a Nail
How one false statement brought down a Wall Street company.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point February 13
Doesn’t Anyone Want to Know Who Killed Louise Cicelsky?
New York prosecutors object to new DNA testing that might answer questions left unanswered at a murder trial.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point January 29
Justice Poker
Sometimes capital punishment is just the luck of the draw.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point January 15
How Social Media Giants Side With Prosecutors in Criminal Cases
Why can’t the defense have access, too?
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point December 4, 2017
“Complete Balderdash”
A judge balks at a corporate plea deal he can’t see
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point November 13, 2017
Confess, or “They’ll Fucking Give You the Needle.”
An idle threat, but the teenage suspect confessed.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point October 30, 2017
Getting Away with Perjury
If a witness lies, whose job is it to say so?
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point October 16, 2017
A Tragedy of Errors
The corkscrew case of Rogers Lacaze.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary September 27, 2017
How Bad Apples Spoil the Whole Bunch
When a ‘hot cop’ proves himself a bad apple, police should hold him accountable, not close ranks.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point September 25, 2017
A Vestige of Bigotry
The Supreme Court and non-unanimous juries.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point September 11, 2017
Is There a Constitutional Right to Cash in on the Poor?
One Arkansas county takes on a private probation company.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point August 8, 2017
The Weakest Link Standard
A Massachusetts case suggests a different way of judging evidence.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point July 17, 2017
Who Pays for Jail Rape?
Under “qualified immunity,” often no one.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point June 12, 2017
The Man Who Spent 35 Years in Prison Without a Trial
The Jerry Hartfield case is an extraordinary tale of justice delayed and denied.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point May 22, 2017
Justice on the Cheap
Thomas Edward Clardy and the trial after the trial.
By Andrew Cohen
News May 10, 2017
Comey Fired: A Reading Guide
Here’s what you need to know about the “Tuesday Night Massacre.”
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point April 24, 2017
Is It Murder if There’s No Homicide?
The strange case of a convicted killer whose “victim” probably died of her own drug overdose.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point April 10, 2017
About the Gun-toting, One-legged Kentucky Woman Seeking Justice...
...and the detective she says cooked the case.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point March 20, 2017
When “No” Doesn’t Mean “No”
Did the subject invoke his right to remain silent?
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point March 6, 2017
Death by Mismanagement?
A case that tests corporate liability for chaos.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point February 20, 2017
The Man Arrested for Praising Jesus
Lester Packingham’s Facebook post is headed for the Supreme Court
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis January 31, 2017
Neil Gorsuch: Scalia Without the Scowl
Trump’s nominee has the ideology without the temper.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point January 23, 2017
An Oklahoma Horror Story
The last six days of Elliott Earl Williams.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis January 10, 2017
What Happened At Jeff Sessions' Senate Hearing
Senator laments a “corrosion of respect” for police in first day of testimony centered on crime and punishment.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point January 9, 2017
The Punishing Price of Freedom
Alabama never forgave Phillip Chance for running away.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point December 19, 2016
Unchecked and Unbalanced
The case of Clifton Harvin pits judges against judges.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point December 5, 2016
How America’s Most Famous Federal Prison Faced a Dirty Secret
The case that awakened us to the mental health trauma of “Supermax”
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis November 18, 2016
A Primer on Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s Pick for Attorney General
An extensive record as a prosecutor and a senator gives some hints of what to expect.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point November 14, 2016
When the Star Witness Recants
The evidence against Rodney Lincoln has evaporated, but the courts say he’s out of luck.
By Andrew Cohen
Crime on the Ballot November 9, 2016
The Death Penalty is Alive and Well
Voters in three states approve measures to strengthen capital punishment.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point October 24, 2016
Which Sinners Get to Vote in Alabama?
Ex-prisoners challenge a law that lets local bureaucrats judge “moral turpitude.”
By Andrew Cohen
Crime on the Ballot October 19, 2016
Three States to Watch if You Care About the Death Penalty
Nebraska, Oklahoma, and California will test the prospects of abolition.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point September 26, 2016
The DNA Tests That Came Too Late to Save Two Men
Percell Warren and Nathaniel Epps died while fighting a rape conviction — but their battle still goes on.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point September 22, 2016
Is a Life in Solitary “Cruel and Unusual?”
In Pennsylvania, the heart of solitary confinement reform, an intellectually disabled inmate says he’s been held in wretched isolation for 36 years.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point September 12, 2016
The Man With the Bleeding Brain
William Palmer was “severely mentally impaired” when he clashed with police. Should that matter?
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point August 29, 2016
The Accuser’s Mom Called Her a ‘Pathological Liar.’ Nobody Told the Defense.
So George Gage sits in prison. And guess what happened to the prosecutor.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point August 15, 2016
The Case of the Do-Nothing Judge
Suppose a judge decides not to decide. For five years.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis August 1, 2016
Is the Internet Endangering Criminal Informants?
A judicial committee proposes more secrecy.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point July 18, 2016
Letting Prosecutors Write the Law
It’s more common than you think.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point June 19, 2016
The Death Penalty Case Where Prosecutors Wrote the Judge’s ‘Opinion’
Is that fair? The U.S. Supreme Court could soon decide.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis June 13, 2016
Should Jurors Refuse to Serve with the Judge in the Brock Turner Case?
The oddest fallout from the Stanford sexual assault
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary June 9, 2016
Poster Child
How Terrance Williams became the face of the death penalty debate in Pennsylvania.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis May 24, 2016
Why the Virginia GOP Can’t Thwart McAuliffe on Voting Rights
The state constitution is pretty clear, says a man who helped draft it.
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point May 22, 2016
Florida Wrestles With the Death Penalty, One Case at a Time
Someone else has confessed. The DNA evidence points elsewhere. What does it take to get off death row?
By Andrew Cohen
Case in Point May 3, 2016
Exonerated, Dead and Still on Trial
In a notorious Louisiana case, a judge gets in a last kick.
By Andrew Cohen
Quiz April 10, 2016
How Racist is Too Racist?
Take our quiz on juror bias.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary March 28, 2016
A Judge Overturned a Death Sentence Because the Prosecutor Compared a Black Defendant to King Kong
The South Carolina prosecutor is known as ‘Death Penalty Donnie.’
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary March 8, 2016
Death by Indifference
Remembering Robert Knott, a case the Justice Department would rather you forget
By Andrew Cohen
Q&A February 21, 2016
‘I’ll Believe It When I See It.’
After 42 years in solitary, Albert Woodfox walks free.
By Andrew Cohen
News January 25, 2016
The Supreme Court May Have Just Granted Thousands of Prisoners a Chance of Freedom
The Montgomery ruling says juveniles sentenced to life without parole must get a shot at a new sentence or parole.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis January 12, 2016
A New Blow to Florida’s Death Penalty
The U.S. Supreme Court says state judges cannot sentence death without a jury’s mandate
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary December 21, 2015
Next Year in Criminal Justice
Three themes that will trend, three that won’t
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary October 23, 2015
Radley, DeRay, and Piper on Obama’s Conversation with The Marshall Project
Other voices from the criminal justice community weigh in.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis October 20, 2015
Why is a Man Serving Life for a Murder that Feds Say Someone Else Committed?
The unusual case of Lamont McKoy.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis September 25, 2015
The Disappearing Precedent
When courts “de-publish” rulings to limit their impact.
By Andrew Cohen
News September 10, 2015
‘I’m Just Happy to Be Alive’
An Alabama man, wrongfully convicted, overcomes a judicial override to gain his freedom.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary September 3, 2015
Obama’s Final 500 Days
People from across the political spectrum suggest criminal justice reforms the president should enact during his remaining time in office.
By Andrew Cohen
The Rules August 14, 2015
A Sketch of Tom Brady, but No Photo?
Maintaining courtroom decorum the old-fashioned way.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis August 12, 2015
When Heroin Hits the White Suburbs
Suddenly it’s not a crime problem, it’s a health problem.
By Andrew Cohen
News August 10, 2015
What We’ve Learned About Racial Disparity in Policing Since Ferguson
A brief overview of the numbers.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis July 29, 2015
Meet Dylann Roof’s Defender
Representing an avowed racist, a champion of racial justice.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis July 15, 2015
‘Justice and Redemption Go Hand in Hand.’
A closer look at the president’s speech on criminal justice reform.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis July 13, 2015
The President Goes to Prison
But Congress is the place to watch.
By Andrew Cohen
Analysis June 29, 2015
A Victory for Lethal Injection
And a blazing battle over the death penalty itself.
By Andrew Cohen
News June 22, 2015
What to Read: The Charleston Massacre
Selected news and comment from this morning’s Opening Statement.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary June 19, 2015
Why Carlos Montero Has Been in Rikers for Seven Years Without Trial
Blame the judge, lawyers, and DNA.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary June 2, 2015
Diary of a Madman?
A psychiatrist analyzes the notebook of James Holmes.
By Andrew Cohen
Feature June 1, 2015
After Lethal Injection
Three states, three ways to kill a human being.
By Maurice Chammah, Andrew Cohen and Eli Hager
News May 12, 2015
A New Conservative Approach to Justice: Serve the Poor
With jails filling up, right to counsel gains favor.
By Andrew Cohen
News May 7, 2015
Older Prisoners, Higher Costs
A tough, new report says it’s time for federal prisons to release the elderly and infirm.
By Andrew Cohen
News April 29, 2015
A Death Penalty Case, or Just Bullying?
High Court’s conservatives bridle at ‘guerilla’ tactics of ‘abolitionist’ movement.
By Andrew Cohen
News April 28, 2015
Meet Anthony Batts
A brief, aggregated history of the Baltimore police commissioner at the eye of the storm.
By Andrew Cohen
News April 24, 2015
Bad FBI Science
A forensic whistleblower on the latest scandal.
By Andrew Cohen
Life Inside April 22, 2015
Blood, Sex and Contraband
One inmate’s unexpurgated version of life in a Mississippi prison
By Andrew Cohen
News April 14, 2015
Two Confessions
One by a nervous kid. One by a self-styled hit man. A Detroit whodunnit.
By Andrew Cohen
Q&A April 7, 2015
Juror No. 5
On the eve of deliberations over the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, a juror in the Timothy McVeigh trial looks back.
By Andrew Cohen
News April 6, 2015
What to Read on the Boston Bombing Trial
In time for closing arguments, ten pieces to catch you up.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary March 30, 2015
A Courtroom Divided
What a battle between a Mississippi judge and a group of public defenders tells us about the state of indigent defense.
By Andrew Cohen and Clare Sestanovich
Commentary March 19, 2015
The Petri Dish
Georgia has become the laboratory of criminal justice reform.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary March 2, 2015
Reflections on Roper
On the 10th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision about juveniles and the death penalty, what has really changed?
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary February 19, 2015
What Are 30 Years Worth?
In the case of this wrongfully convicted man, Louisiana says $0.00.
By Andrew Cohen
News January 28, 2015
What You Should Read About Loretta Lynch
A selective guide to the reporting on the next attorney general.
By Andrew Cohen
News January 20, 2015
‘My Fellow Americans’
Reimagining the president's State of the Union speech.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary December 17, 2014
Handling, Not Manhandling, the Mentally Ill
A close look at the L.A. County Jail settlement
By Andrew Cohen
News December 16, 2014
Was Lennon Lacy Lynched?
A brief modern history of racially motivated murder.
By Andrew Cohen and Christie Thompson
News December 13, 2014
Kids Are Different
The sweet spot in criminal justice reform.
By Andrew Cohen
News December 12, 2014
Confessing While Black
When the threat of a white jury is an interrogation tool.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary December 9, 2014
Eric Holder’s Final Crusade
Feds announce new racial profiling rules — and local police yawn
By Andrew Cohen
News December 4, 2014
The Garner Decision in Black and White
Reckoning with the great justice divide.
By Andrew Cohen
News December 3, 2014
New York Explains Itself
Some questions and answers about the city’s new mental health initiative.
By Andrew Cohen
News November 26, 2014
Ferguson, Continued
What to read in the aftermath.
By Andrew Cohen
News November 25, 2014
Law and Disorder in Ferguson
10 must-reads from coverage of the decision, and the protests.
By Andrew Cohen
News November 21, 2014
The Corrections
Tales from a week of overturned convictions.
By Andrew Cohen
Commentary November 21, 2014
Is the Criminal Justice System Defensible?
A debate between Judge Harvie Wilkinson III and Stephen Bright.
By Andrew Cohen
News November 18, 2014
Is Mass Incarceration Going Away?
New numbers from 28 states suggest otherwise.
By Andrew Cohen
News November 17, 2014
Waiting for Ferguson
A grand jury's secret, thankless ordeal.
By Andrew Cohen
News November 17, 2014
Obama’s Prison Crisis
Crowded cells, aging inmates, soaring costs.
By Andrew Cohen

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